By Matthias Zapatka, CTO, INGUN USAINGUN's fixture kits are well-known for their ease of operation and cassette design. Expensive dedicated fixtures can only cover one device under test (DUT). INGUN's fixture kits can be reused for several devices — simply by swapping out the insert, while keeping the same frame and ...

By Christophe Lotz, President and CEO, ASTER Technologies, LLCThe purpose of any test solution is to maximize test coverage, ensuring that the majority of defects are detected, while minimizing the test cost. If a product is not tested well enough, poor-quality products can be devastating to a manufacturer's reputation. If a product is tested ...

By Jeff ElliottThe ideal contract manufacturer is more than a transactional supplier, but a partner who improves both the product and process. When OEMs outsource PCBs or electronic box build assemblies, the primary criteria when selecting a contract manufacturer have always boiled down to cost, quality ...

By Bjorn Dahle, President, KICWhether we hype it and call it artificial intelligence (AI) or the more modest "machine optimization," reflow oven optimization software is a great example of a smart machine.

By the Staff of Interplex Holdings Pte., Ltd.Manufacturers have been pre-tinning component solder leads for years, but mostly for through-hole technology. SMT and lead-free soldering have made this type of preparation difficult, until now.

By Graham Dale, Technical Director, Pickering ElectronicsA reed relay, if used correctly, is a near-perfect device with a low-resistance metallic switch path and inherent isolation between the control voltage operating the coil and the signal being switched. Reed relays contain a reed switch, a coil for creating a magnetic field, an optional ...

By Florian SchildeinTightening thermal requirements for copper wire and connectors, especially in the automotive supply and consumer goods industries, are driving innovation in selective soldering. For more than 20 years, EUTECT® GmbH has been developing and manufacturing selective soldering modules ...

By Patrick RobertsThe tunable microwave-frequency alternating current scanning tunneling microscope (ACSTM) can record local spectra and local chemical information on insulator surfaces, much like the conventional STM can do for metals and semiconductors. Spectroscopy in the microwave frequency range ...

By Patrick Moroney, Product Marketing Manager, Komax WireAs consumers, we pay attention to the look and feel of our smartphones, car interiors, kitchen appliances, keyboards, and apps. In fact, when we encounter substandard design, we notice it right away. We demand and expect a good user experience from the products we use in our personal ...

By Mike Szuch, Akira Morita and Garret Wong, Nordson ASYMTEK; Mike Sakaguchi and Hiroaki Umeda, Tatsuta Electric Wire & Cable Company LimitedEMI shielding has always been an important component of RF devices, but the demands of today's Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G, LTE, wearable, and IoT devices have created a special set of hurdles for the manufacturing engineer. These devices rely on different radio frequencies that can interfere ...

By Chrisophe Lotz, President and CEO, Aster TechnologiesIndustry 4.0 is the widely-used name for the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing. The concept is being applied by many in order to create the smart factory. Within the modular elements of smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, ...

By Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, President and CEO, CyberOptics CorporationIn general, you can have very fast sensors that are not so accurate, or very accurate sensors that are not so fast. Having both at the same time has been critical to CyberOptics' development.

By Griffin Lemaster, Dr. Bill Cardoso and Dr. Glen Thomas, Creative Electron, Inc.Improvements in high-brightness LED technologies are making these devices useful for general illumination. But, before LEDs can completely replace outmoded light sources, their thermal management schemes need to be further developed to ensure consistent color quality and long operational ...

By Eric Moen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Akrometrix The electronics assembly industry is being challenged with materials, components and assemblies that are more prone to warpage-induced defects both pre-reflow and in-between reflow stages. The majority of traditional warpage and deformation testing has taken place in a controlled environment ...

By Jonas Diekmann, Technical Editor, HARTING ElectronicsTransformers play a major role in today's Ethernet communications technology; without them, broadband data transfer with high signal integrity would be nearly impossible. Typically, network devices and cabling sections have to be galvanically isolated from each other in order to protect ...

By Vitor Barros, General Manager, KIC EuropeSome companies may find the change to Industry 4.0 overwhelming, though it is one of the most exciting developments in the manufacturing industry in decades. It promises vast improvements for both manufacturers and their customers.

By Patrick McGoff, Valor Product Manager, Mentor — A Siemens BusinessDesign for manufacturing (DFM) software for printed circuit boards has been around since the mid-1990s. It began with bareboard fabricators who wanted to make sure that they fully understood the design they received, in order to avoid any manufacturing issues. When PCB designers got ...

By Berenice Mengo, Online Marketing Specialist, VKSOperating in a high-mix, low-volume environment, effectively navigating the manufacturing process can be complex and difficult. But there are reliable solutions to help steer manufacturers toward the most efficient processes. One of these is the company Visual Knowledge Share (VKS) ...